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Statutory Instruments

1995 No. 1772

LOCAL GOVERNMENT, ENGLAND AND WALES

The Durham (Borough of Darlington) (Structural Change) Order 1995

Made

11th July 1995

Coming into force

For the purposes of articles 2(2), 4, 6(1), (3), (4), 9 and 10

12th July 1995

For all other purposes

1st April 1997

Whereas the Local Government Commission for England, acting pursuant to section 15(4) of the Local Government Act 1992(1) has submitted to the Secretary of State a report on its review of the county of Durham together with its recommendations:

And whereas the Secretary of State has decided to give effect, with modifications, to the recommendations in respect of the borough of Darlington(2):

Now, therefore, the Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 17(3), 18(3)(a) and 26 of the Local Government Act 1992, and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following Order, a draft of which has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament:

PART IGENERAL

Citation and commencement

1. This Order may be cited as the Durham (Borough of Darlington) (Structural Change) Order 1995 and shall come into force for the purposes of articles 2(2), 4, 6(1), (3) and (4,) 9 and 10 on the day after the day on which it is made and for all other purposes on 1st April 1997.

Interpretation

“Darlington” (except in references to the county of Darlington) means the borough of Darlington and “the Darlington Council” means the council of that borough;

“Durham” means the non-metropolitan county of Durham and “the County Council” means the council of that county;

“the relevant date” means 6th May 1996;

“relevant provision” means a provision in any subordinate legislation made under the Act or made, in connection with the Act or such provision, under any other enactment;

“the reorganisation date” means 1st April 1997; and

“subordinate legislation” has the same meaning as in section 21 of the Interpretation Act 1978(5).

(2) The period beginning with the relevant date and ending immediately before the reorganisation date is specified as the preliminary period for the purposes of any statutory instrument made under the Act.

PART IILOCAL GOVERNMENT REORGANISATION IN DURHAM

Structural change

3. The functions of the County Council in relation to Darlington shall, subject to the following provisions of this Part and to any other relevant provision, be transferred to the Darlington Council.

Durham Police Authority

(a)sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 27 of Schedule 1B to the 1964 Act (meaning of “relevant council”)(7) shall have effect as from 1st October 1996 as if Darlington had ceased to form part of Durham on that date; and

(b)accordingly, the appointments which are required to be made to the Durham Police Authority (as established under section 3 of the 1964 Act) (“the Authority”)(8) by paragraph 2(2) of that Schedule (appointments of members of police authority by joint committee appointed by relevant councils) shall be made, as soon as practicable after that date, by a joint committee appointed by the County Council and the Darlington Council (as relevant councils) in accordance with that provision.

(3) The functions to which this article applies are—

(a)on and after the reorganisation date, all functions of the Authority; and

(b)before that date (but on and after 1st October 1996), the following functions of the Authority in respect of the financial year beginning on the reorganisation date—

(i)functions under Chapter IV of Part I of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (precepts)(9), and

(4) For the purposes of the functions referred to in paragraph (3)(b) above—

(a)section 28(2)(b) of the Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994 (approval of decisions about precepts) shall have effect as though the reference to the members of the police authority appointed under paragraph 2 of Schedule 1B to the 1964 Act was a reference to the members so appointed by virtue of paragraph (2) above, and

(b)the members of the Authority appointed under paragraph 2 of that Schedule otherwise than by virtue of paragraph (2) above shall not participate in the discharge of those functions.

(5) In the exercise of its powers, the joint committee referred to in paragraph (2)(b) above—

(a)shall, for the purposes of paragraph 4(1)(b) of Schedule 1B to the 1964 Act, ignore any member of the County Council elected for an electoral division in Darlington(11); and

(b)shall not appoint any such member to the Authority under paragraph 2(2) of Schedule 1B to the 1964 Act.

(6) A member of the Authority who was appointed under paragraph 2 of Schedule 1B to the 1964 Act otherwise than by virtue of paragraph (2) above and who is not subsequently so appointed shall cease to hold office as a member of the Authority on the reorganisation date.

(7) In determining the period of a term of years for the purpose of paragraph 17 of Schedule 1B to the 1964 Act (term of appointment of members of a police authority), any period as a member of the Authority prior to the reorganisation date under an appointment made by virtue of paragraph (2) above shall be disregarded except where the person in question had been a member of the Authority by virtue of an appointment under paragraph 2 of that Schedule prior to his appointment by virtue of paragraph (2) above.

Amendment of Schedule 1A to Police Act 1964

5. Schedule 1A to the Police Act 1964(12) shall be amended by inserting after the words “The county of Durham” in the right-hand column opposite the name of the Durham police area the words “and the non-metropolitan district of Darlington”.

Fire services

“the relevant area” means the area comprising Durham (as constituted on and after the reorganisation date) and Darlington.

(2) Darlington shall, subject to any combination scheme under the 1947 Act, become the area of a fire authority for the purposes of that Act.

(3) For the purposes of the making of a combination scheme with respect to the relevant area before the reorganisation date in accordance with section 10 of the 1947 Act (power to make schemes in advance of alterations to local government areas), section 5(2) of that Act shall have effect, in relation to that area, as if—

(a)in paragraphs (a) and (d) of that subsection, for “the constituent authorities”, wherever those words occur, there were substituted “the council of the county of Durham”; and

(b)in paragraphs (e) and (f) of that subsection, for “any of the constituent authorities” there were substituted “the council of the county of Durham”.

(4) Section 10 of the 1947 Act shall have effect, in relation to the relevant area, as if after the word “but” there were inserted the words “, except so far as it relates to the constitution of an authority as the fire authority for the combined area constituted by the scheme and the performance by that authority of any functions necessary for bringing the scheme into full operation on that date,”.

Planning functions

7.—(1) The structure plans applying immediately before the reorganisation date to Darlington and the boroughs of Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees(14), and any proposals prepared before that date for the alteration or replacement of any such plan, shall be treated as if they had been prepared jointly by the Darlington Council and the councils of those boroughs; and section 50 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990(15) (“the 1990 Act”) shall apply accordingly.

(2) In relation to the Darlington Council—

(a)section 36(5) of the 1990 Act (which provides that a local plan shall not contain policies in respect of minerals or waste) shall not apply;

(b)subsection (1) of section 37 of that Act (minerals local plans) shall have effect as if, after the words “local plan”, there were added the words “or include in their local plan their detailed policies in respect of development consisting of the winning and working of minerals or involving the deposit of mineral waste”; and

(c)subsection (2) of section 38 of that Act (waste policies) shall have effect as if, after paragraph (b), there were added the following—

“or

(c)include their waste policies in their local plan.”.

Constitution of new county of Darlington

8.—(1) Darlington shall cease to form part of Durham.

(2) A new county shall be constituted comprising the area of Darlington and shall be named the county of Darlington.

(3) Section 2(1) of the 1972 Act (which provides that every county shall have a council) shall not apply in relation to the county of Darlington.

PART IIITRANSITIONAL PROVISION

Election of councillors in 1996 and subsequent years

9.—(1) The Borough of Darlington (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1976(16) shall have effect subject to the provisions of this article.

(2) Elections of all councillors of the Darlington Council shall be held simultaneously on the ordinary day of election of councillors in 1996, 1999 and every fourth year after 1999(17).

(3) The term of office of any councillor so elected shall be, in the case of the councillors elected in 1996, three years and, in any other case, four years.

(4) On the fourth day after any such elections—

(a)the persons who were councillors immediately before those elections shall retire; and

(b)the newly elected councillors shall come into office.

Retirement of councillors and casual vacancies

10.—(1) The electoral divisions of Durham comprised in Darlington shall cease to be electoral divisions on the reorganisation date; and any person holding office, immediately before that date, as a councillor for such a division shall retire on that date(18).

(2) Section 89 of the 1972 Act (filling of casual vacancies in case of councillors) shall have effect—

(a)in the case of a casual vacancy occurring in the office of councillor of the Darlington Council during the period beginning with the date on which this article comes into force and ending with the relevant date, as if the reference in subsection (3) of that section to the day on which the councillor whose office is vacant would regularly have retired were a reference to the relevant date; and

(b)in the case of a casual vacancy occurring in the office of councillor for any electoral division referred to in paragraph (1) above, as if that reference in that subsection were a reference to the reorganisation date.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State

David Curry

Minister of State,

Department of the Environment

11th July 1995

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order gives effect to recommendations by the Local Government Commission for England in respect of the structure of local government in the borough of Darlington (“Darlington”).

Article 3 effects the structural change by providing for the transfer, on 1st April 1997, of the functions of Durham County Council in relation to Darlington to the council of the borough.

Articles 4 and 5 make provision in respect of the Durham Police Authority.

Article 6 makes provision for the purposes of subordinate legislation which may be made under the Fire Services Act 1947 in respect of fire services.

Article 7 makes provision in relation to structure plans applying to Darlington and the boroughs in the county of Cleveland affected by a previous order under section 17 of the Local Government Act 1992. It also makes provision to enable the local plan prepared by the council of Darlington under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to contain minerals and waste policies.

Article 8 provides for Darlington to cease to form part of Durham on 1st April 1997 and for a new county of Darlington to be constituted on that date (but without a county council).

Article 9 makes provision for a whole council election in Darlington in 1996 and for the councillors so elected to retire in 1999.

Article 10 provides for the retirement, on 1st April 1997, of existing county councillors elected for divisions in Darlington and in respect of casual vacancies in the office of a councillor who, by virtue of the Order, would retire before the day they would regularly have retired.

1992 c. 14; section 39 of that Act was amended by section 27(1) of the 1994 Act.

(10)

Sections 4A and 4B were inserted by section 4 of the 1994 Act.

(11)

See article 10(1) of this Order.

(12)

Schedule 1A was inserted by Schedule 1 to the 1994 Act.

(13)

1947 c. 41; section 10 of this Act is amended by paragraph 2 of Schedule 3 to the Local Government Act 1992.

(14)

The functions of the Cleveland County Council are transferred to these boroughs on 1st April 1996 by virtue of a structural change effected by S.I.1995/187, article 6 of which contains provisions relating to structure plans.

(15)

1990 c. 8. In this Act, sections 36 to 38 were substituted by paragraph 17 of Schedule 4 to the Planning and Compensation Act 1991 (c. 34) and section 50 was amended by paragraph 24 of that Schedule.

For the ordinary day of election of councillors of local government areas, see section 37 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 (c. 2), amended by section 18(2) of the Representation of the People Act 1985 (c. 50).

(18)

The electoral divisions of the county of Durham are constituted by the County of Durham (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1981 (S.I.1981/190).

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